Entertainment
Television

Jericho relishes chance to reprise role on CBC series

Canadian actor Colin Mochrie (as himself), left to right, Sabryn Rock ("Emily" the Canadian Peacemonger) and Chris Jericho star in a scene from Season 2 of But I'm Chris Jericho, now available on cbc.ca. (Photo courtesy of CBC.ca)

The Winnipeg native and son of former National Hockey League player Ted Irvine is one of the top professional wrestlers of all time, a surefire future hall of famer, the frontman for a successful rock band in Fozzy and the host of one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes, Talk is Jericho.

Yet, the name of his CBC web show, But I'm Chris Jericho, suggests introductions are necessary, at least to this hilarious, amped-up Jericho we meet in the original comedy series.

The series, which released its first season in 2013, returned this month after four years, with six new episodes that follow Jericho and a cast of over-the-top characters as Jericho's character moans and pisses about how under-appreciated his acting skills are while taking viewers on a wacky journey.

For his part, the WWE's first-ever Undisputed champ brushed off concerns about how his busy schedule only seems to get busier as he ages (he turned 47 in November).

"You do what you love to do," Jericho said in a telephone interview to promote But I'm Chris Jericho's second season. "You make time for it. You make sure that you can put a thousand percent effort into everything that you do."

He's very particular about what projects he takes on now. "If my name's involved, I know and everyone who follows me knows it's quality stuff. It's important to never sell yourself out and do something that you don't want to do. If you're doing stuff that you believe in, it makes it all worthwhile."

Jericho spoke with the conviction of someone completely at peace with his career. And why shouldn't he? Season 2 of the hit series comes on the heels of another successful run with WWE during which he was again a main-event draw and as he prepares to face New Japan Pro Wrestling's Kenny Omega in one of the most anticipated wrestling matches in the world. It also comes as Fozzy releases a new album and his podcast continues to tear it up on iTunes.

It sounds like a full plate, but Jericho said he couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a second season when it was presented to him.

"The first season came out in 2013 and it did really well "¦ (it was) critically acclaimed and then that was basically it. Nothing really happened with it. We just chalked it up to, 'Well, it was a good experience' and let's move onto the next thing. Then out of the blue you get a call from CBC that they want to do a second season, four years later. It was very exciting."

Known for his many looks, the most notable difference when binge watching seasons one and two is Jericho's physical appearance. What didn't change was the character himself, who continues to be as witty, arrogant and over the top this season as he was when the series began.

"It was a lot of fun revisiting that character and revisiting that crazy universe that we created," Jericho said. "I never really take anything for granted, but to get a second chance to do another go around with it was very, very cool and very special for me."

As Canada's national broadcaster, the CBC has long been associated with national news, documentaries and hockey, our national pastime. In recent years, however, it's began producing a number of hit comedies.

"CBC being the biggest station in Canada and one of the biggest worldwide, the show obviously is filmed in Canada and it's got a very Canadian slant to it, but we didn't make it for Canada, we made it for the world," Jericho said. "Funny is funny no matter what country you're watching in."

And make no mistake, Jericho keeps close tabs on those who are talking about his series on social media around the world.

"I've been enjoying seeing all the reaction now that the show is out," he said. "Seeing people in England or in the (United) States or Mexico or wherever, watching the show and getting a laugh out of it."

The show does have some distinctly Canadian humour about it. "We have a very distinct sense of humour in Canada, whether it's Kids in the Hall or SCTV or all of those great shows that have come around over the years that have made a huge impact in the States. It's a little bit of a warped sense of humour. (It's) very much a derivative of the British sense of humour and I love the diversity of the humour on this show. It goes from very serial, kind of intelligent humour, then it goes all the way to fart jokes and everything in between. You just never know what you're going to get out of this show because it is very quirky and also very funny in a lot of different ways."

Jericho welcomed the chance to further develop the lively, energetic version of himself for a second season, he said.

"That's one of the cool things about the show is that I get a chance to play this exaggerated version of myself. Season one was more kind of encapsulated, bite-sized nuggets of episodes. You could watch Episode 10, you could watch Episode 1 (and they stood on their own). Season 2 is a story arc that goes from beginning to middle to end. It's fun to play that character because everybody has a little bit of a prima donna inside of you and this gives me a chance to really expand and explore upon that and just play this egotistical kind of lead singer version of Jericho, which is such a blast because he always ends up screwing himself in the end in a fun way."

And rather than one-off, comedy sketch style episodes, season two tells a beginning-to-end story, another reason a return to the show was so appealing to Jericho.

"I like the idea in Season 2 that now Chris actually has a gig, he thinks he's the star but he's not, but he acts like he is. We really see that cockiness come through and it's fun," Jericho said, adding the supporting cast for the show is second to none. "They're a great cast of characters, some of the funniest comedians in Canada and the United States, some well known like Andy Kinsler and Kevin McDonald and Colin Mochrie... everybody's a star in this. It kind of really works well because everybody gets the spotlight and that's very important. It's not just Chris and people, it's Chris and this great ensemble cast."

Season 2, which also stars Andy Kindler, Kevin Vidal, Arlene Duncan, Mayko Nguyen and featuring cameos by the likes of Mochrie and McDonald, follows Jericho as he laments his second billing on Star Crusaders, loses a script in a washroom, and an eventual gig; goes on a date with a Canadian Peace Monger, who is also accompanied by Mochrie; to pitching a script to a wealthy producer who agrees to produce his vision before dying. Jericho's character on Star Crusaders is then killed off in spectacular fashion.

"You could put this whole six episodes together in like an hour-long show, like a mini-movie," Jericho said. "There was more of a hook to it, more of an organized tone. I really enjoyed that. It was fun to kind of see how everything transpired from this guy and all the dumb things he does. At the end of the day, he's basically such a jerk that he gets what he wants, which is two characters in the same show, and then they both die in the same show and he's off the show."

With any luck, a third season will follow, minus the years-long hiatus.

"I would love nothing more, man," Jericho said when asked if a third season was possible. "I think we've really got this honed in now and it's great to be a CBC original series and I think they're putting a lot of effort and a lot of promotion into it."

Jericho has done his part, now it's up to the audience to respond by watching. "Once it comes out, I can't control who watches it, or what people think of it. All we can control is the product itself and it turned out so great and it was so much fun and I'm very, very proud and happy with it. It's funny. If it makes me laugh, then that's the only watermark they can use. Hopefully we continue to do more because I would love to kind of live in this universe with this character a little bit longer for sure."

In the meantime, Jericho will prep for his epic match with Omega on January 4, and continue to be dogged by questions about whether he'll ever wrestling for WWE again. While Jericho has been somewhat mum on his future with WWE, he was very straightforward when asked if he ever saw some kind of a retirement match in his future.

"I don't like the pomp and circumstance," he said matter-of-factly. "I'll just slip away into the sunset. I don't like the big focus. I find that's a little bit self-aggrandizing, egotistical. I don't need people telling me how great I am or how great my career is. I know how great my career was. The big story retirement does not appeal to me in the least. There's a lot of pressure on that, too. It's the last match ever ... and it rarely ever is ... so why put that type of stamp on it? I don't ever want to put myself in that box because maybe some day I might want to have another match. When the last match comes and goes, I'll know it and probably nobody else will at the time. That's the way I want to do it. That's the way it should be."

Wrestling will inevitably some day see the last of Chris Jericho, but CBC viewers might just be seeing the beginning of him. Time will tell.